continued quietly enough, but hot; hotter than the weather on the phone kept assuring us

[unless our bodies and thermometers were mistaken] and enervating.

We began going up the knoll instead of fossil Hill, ostensibly to avoid the heat,

and Monday, which was warmer still, made a trip across the valley to Eva and John’s

for a delicious pork loin [and more] with Robert [bread, below] and Joan  while

here, on/in the ground, ah, more antlions than ever….

Wednesday morning the air cleared briefly but by the time we left for the Walsenburg dump

and Safeway the light was flat and bright, hot in the Habib where L. made preparations

for another shipment to Nebraska while I pretty much collapsed.  Then it was

home for a sultry desultory afternoon before dinner with Nancy and Mike wherein we stayed up

talking well beyond my puny country bedtime. As a result I took two days to recover,

barely time, after a morning visit to ye olde peyote circle,

to make it to the Party Site for the Annual Libre Meeting in all its redundant glory

only to have it rained out, forcing the move to our house where it went on, circling in on certain

accomplishments beyond five at which point adjournment was derailed by an attempt to review the By-Laws, a delay duly resolved by scheduling Yet Another Meeting…in October, um.

After a bit of cleaning up L. and I had quiet burgers out as the porch cooled down

while most of the rest went off partying far into the night.  Next morning, Sunday, we were all [and more] back at the Party Site for the 55th anniversary picnic, a party happily not to be

rained on although after several hours moving chairs from sunny to shaded spots

and a champagne* toast I set off for home to catch up on some sleep while L. stayed on,

basking in a half century of friends and memories while once down the hill I was too buzzed to nap at all after all.

*New Mexican sparkling wine, appropriately, and quite good.